Outlander

(2008) dir. Howard McCainviewed: 05/26/09

When I heard about a movie that involved a spaceship, an alien monster and Vikings, I thought, “Well, that oughta be interesting!” If you’re like me, you might imagine a bunch of Vikings running around shooting laser guns or something. Maybe something like Starship Troopers (1997) with horns on their helmets. It’s a mixture of the future with the ancient past, two mediocre tastes that might at least taste interesting together. Then again, I thought vaguely of The 13th Warrior (1999), which was not a good thought. But I still found myself attracted to this great potential nonsense.

Unfortunately, the man from outer space, Jim Caviezel, loses his space blaster right off the bat, so this is a sword-fightin’ movie, much more period setting than sci-fi, except for the The Host (2008) / Cloverfield (2007)-like monster. In reality, it’s a lot more Beowulf (2007) than anything else. Without the animation.

In the end it’s a pretty weak effort, but not weak enough to be funny. Well, mostly. So, yes, I was disappointed. I even yearned for Uwe Boll at more than one point. And that is a statement indeed.